


freaky friday

by reachedthebitterend



Series: rnmweek19 [4]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Inverted Au, M/M, rnmweek19
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 07:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20206054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reachedthebitterend/pseuds/reachedthebitterend
Summary: written for the rnmweek19 day five prompt, freaky friday || the one where alex, maria and liz are the aliens





	freaky friday

**Author's Note:**

> written on 07/26/19

Alex runs into the Wild Pony, heart racing wildly still feeling the panic and fear and guilt that Liz had sent out through their bond.

He spots Maria and Liz immediately huddled close together, leaning against one of the pool tables.

There is blood everywhere, a first aid kit open on the green felt, and several bottles of acetone, and Alex feels his own panic spreading through him as he stumbles to a stop in front of them.

Maria reaches for him first, hand coming up to cup his shoulder, fingers curling into the fabric of the collar of his jacket. “She’s okay,” she assures him.

At the same time, Liz reaches for his other side, wrapping her fingers around his wrist and pulling him in close, to wrap her arm around his waist, “It’s not my blood.”

Alex exhales and drops his forehead to Liz’s who closes her eyes and hums as Maria moves in close and presses her forehead to their temples.

They all breathe in unison for a few minutes while the panic leeches from their system.

Alex is the first one to move back, since he’s the only one who doesn’t know what happened.

Liz hooks her fingers into the belt loop of his jeans and Maria’s fingers go tight on his collar so that he doesn’t move far away.

“What happened?” Alex asks, resting one hand on Liz’s shoulders and resting his other arm around Maria’s waist.

Liz looks down at her bloody hands.

“I’m sorry,” she says immediately. “He was dying, and I knew that I could stop it, so I just reacted.“ 

She looks up Alex with wide wet eyes, "I wasn’t thinking.”

Alex looks back at her and blinks twice before turning to Maria since he’s obviously not going to get a straight answer from Liz.

“Max Evans is back in town,” Maria states simply.

Alex inhales sharply. “Isobel?”

“Is still sleeping,” Maria confirms. “Max is staying at the only good hotel in town, since the guest room is _still _someone’s makeshift lab.”

She turns a pointed look at Liz, who makes a face back at Maria.

“And since you’re the only one who can open the door,” she continues turning to Alex. “Isobel couldn’t clear it out in time.”

“Okay, good,” he says, coming up with a plan of action and the steps necessary to bring it to fruition. “We’re going to have to move fast if we want to avoid-”

“Wait,” Liz says immediately, making Alex stop midspeech and blink at her a few times in confusion.

“We don’t have to do anything,” Liz says slowly. “I broke a ketchup bottle on him and he believed me when I told him that stuff like that always happens at the Crashdown and the cops never do anything, so he won’t be going to the cops.”

Alex blinks at her some more for good measure.

“What exactly are you saying?”

“We don’t know if the handprint will show up on someone who isn’t like us, so maybe we could just wait.”

Alex looks to Maria who is staring back at him like the answer is something he really isn’t going to like.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Alex asks, and Liz exhales roughly blowing her hair out of her face.

“I’m still in love with him,” she says, and then makes a face. “I thought that I had gotten over it. I mean, I was so sure, even when I saw him again, but then he got shot right in front of me, and I couldn’t think about anything else until he was breathing again, and it hit me then, when he opened his eyes, gasping, after I saved him, I still have feelings for him.”

Maria moves in close to her, wrapping an arm around Liz’s shoulder. Liz rests her head against Maria’s chest sighing when she tightens her arm around her.

Alex feels like maybe he’s the only one of his siblings thinking clearly.

“He’s an investigative reporter known for uncovering secrets highly profiled people don’t want him to know about,” Alex starts, and Liz immediately bristles.

“He won’t-”

“How can you be so sure?” Alex snaps, moving away from them both.

“Because I _know _him-”

“It’s been ten years,” Alex states. “You cannot seriously believe that he hasn’t changed at all.”

“I trust him,” Liz snaps standing up from where she’d been leaning against the pool table, pulling away from Maria to glare at Alex. “I don’t know why, but I do.”

“Well, I don’t,” Alex almost yells. “And I’m not going to let you put us all in jeopardy just because you-”

“What if it was Michael?” She yells back.

Alex snaps back as though she slapped him, but before he can say anything, the lights go on in the hallway that leads upstairs.

“Maria? Babe? Are you down here?” Isobel can be heard walking down the stairs.

Maria looks between once before she sighs. “Please don’t break my bar,” she whispers as she goes. “And lock up after you leave.”

“Hey,” they hear Maria saying as she intercepts Isobel. “Sorry, Liz came over-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Isobel replies cutting her off. “Just don’t tell her where Max is staying. I don’t want him to even _see _her. I don’t need a repeat of what happened after the wedding.”

The lights go off and Alex turns back to Liz who is looking at him with a mutinous look on her face.

“Fine,” he says. “We’ll do this your way, but remember that _you _were the one who wanted him to go ten years ago. I didn’t get a choice.”

Liz looks away from him at that, and Alex feels a clench in the pit of his stomach and a need to reach out and hold her until they’re okay again, but instead he turns and leaves the bar.

* * *

Alex is _tired _and really not in the mood to deal with any of Master Sargent Manes’ bullshit. The Airstream that he and Liz use as their mobile lab is parked out in Foster’s Ranch for the nostalgia mostly. Alex refuses to move it from there, and Liz hates the drive but accepts that the further from people they are while they experiment with their powers.

Alex sighs as he drives up and spots the group of soldiers parked in front of the Airstream. He twists the ignition off and jumps down from the jeep shutting the door with a slam.

Mr. Jacobs-Foster stops him before he goes any further, holding out a folded piece of paper. “They’re requisitioning the Ranch. You have a week to move.”

Alex takes the paper and shoves it into the front pocket of his jeans pushing past him without a word and heading to cut off the curly haired fucker who isn’t even wearing a uniform trying to look through the windows even though they’re covered in newspaper.

“Hey,” he calls out and grabs him by the elbow turning him around. “That’s private property. You don-”

The flow of his speech slows and stutters to a stop as he gets a good look at the curly haired fucker’s face and it’s _Michael_. It’s almost like the entire world slows to a stop for one second while Alex’s shock leaves him speechless. His eyes dart all over him, from the way his curls are being held back by the sunglasses pushed to the top of his head to the scruff covering his face and leading down to his neck, and the way his professional white polo shirt has all four buttons undone.

“Alex,” Michael says voice entirely breathless, and Alex snaps out of his daze, taking a step back for good measure and looking around them.

“He’s not here,” Michael says, and Alex’s gaze snaps back to him. 

Michael’s eyes are downcast, and Alex can feel his gaze on Alex’s right leg almost like a physical touch.

“I refused to consult for the Air Force if he was the one in charge of the project, and they need me more than they need him involved.”

His gaze drags up Alex’s entire frame, and for the first time in a long time Alex feels self conscious about his clothes. The scuffed boots and the dirty black jeans and the fact that his black shirt is too small and worn to holes in some places. 

Alex expects a judgemental look on Michael’s face, but instead the look on his face is one that Alex knows well and recognizes from when he was sixteen, making him feel like he did back then, so fucking in love that it was bursting out of him, so fucking happy that he could hardly contain it, and so fucking incredibly naive.

Alex looks away from him, shaking his head, and inhales deeply, before he looks back at Michael and takes a step towards the door of the Airstream.

“Lucky you that you get to decide whether or not you want to see your dad,” he says letting the bitterness and anger bleed through his tone, and it makes Michael look away from him, finally.

Alex doesn’t need to be dealing with _this _on top of the whole Max and Liz thing.

“Can we talk?” Michael asks, almost pleadingly, and takes a step towards him, and Alex backs up into the door shaking his head.

“I have a week to move,” he says and looks over to where he can see several airmen looking at them and their conversation vividly. Alex resigns himself to an impromptu meeting with the Master Sargent and looks back to Michael who is frowning at Alex. “And I’m really not in the mood to hear anything that you have to say.”

He unlocks the door with his mind, and pulls it open and heads inside before Michael can say anything else.

He closes the door and stumbles to sit right on the top step.

He can feel Michael on the other side of the door, and he feels it when he moves and yells out at the others to pack up.

Alex waits until he hears the car engines turning on before he lets out a harsh breath and looks down at his leg.

He rolls his jeans up slightly, and looks down at the silver metal that makes up half of his right leg and sighs out, forcing himself to remember that this is what comes out of hoping for something more than what he actually deserves.

He tugs his pants back down and levers himself to his feet.

He needs to shower and get back on the road to make sure that Liz’s trust in Max isn’t woefully misplaced.

* * *

Alex slides into one of the barstools that keeps him out of sight from most of the bar, but still able to keep an eye on the patrons.

It’s his favorite seat in the whole bar.

Jason, one of the newer bartenders who thinks that Alex is just shy and not antisocial, sets a cold beer down in front of him with a smile and Alex gives him a smile back in thanks before he turns to keep an eye on the Evans’ twins.

Isobel hugs her brother tightly, and Alex can see that she’s talking up a storm, a huge smile on her face, and he looks over to the other side of the bar, and sure enough there is Maria watching her wife with a besotted smile on her face.

He rolls his eyes a little and takes a sip of his beer before turning back to the siblings and almost choking on his drink when he sees that Michael has made an appearance.

Isobel is hugging him tightly, and he’s hugging her back just as tight, a completely relieved and happy look on his face as he closes his eyes and leans heavily on her.

When they don’t let go, Max just fits himself on Michael’s other side and brings them both into his arms which makes Michael sputter out in laughter, and Alex turns away from them, setting his drink down and leaning his elbows on the bar.

“I know you’re probably going to ignore this,” Maria speaks, making Alex jump a little. “But you should talk to him before he leaves again.”

Alex sighs and looks at Maria whose gaze drops from the reunited trio to Alex.

“I know it’s difficult for you to say how you feel,” she says reaching out to grab one of his hands, and Alex lets her cradle it in her hand as she looks at the lines in his palm, and then back up to him with a small smile. “But we’re not meant to be alone, you know that. At least Liz tries, you don’t even-”

Alex puts his other hand on top of one of her own and she stops speaking to give him a sheepish look.

“I’m fine,” he promises. “I have the two of you, and besides, who am I supposed to date in this town? Closested asshole numbers one and two are ‘happily married’ to women. And closeted asshole numbers three and four decided to date each other since I’m too ‘open and flamboyant’ for their taste. And even if I did want to date another closeted asshole, where exactly am I supposed to take them? To my apartment that is basically just a room for my super computer, or to the Airstream that doubles as our super secret alien lab?”

Maria makes a face at him. “Fine, but my advice remains the same. Talk to Michael, he might surprise you.”

Alex sighs as she squeezes his hands and then slips away to take care of another customer.

He grabs his beer and looks back over to where Michael is, and inhales sharply when he sees that Michael is staring right at him.

Alex feels his breathing stop, and his heartbeat stutter before it starts pounding hard in his chest, and he clenches his hands on his beer and blinks rapidly, and can’t find it in himself to look away.

It’s been years, and he should hate Michael, he should, he _does _sometimes. Hates him more than he can bear because he left him _alone_, but right now it’s not hate that fills him up and spills out of him in waves that he can’t contain.

The smile on Michael’s face goes from wide with joy, to something small and private and meant only for Alex before his attention is caught by Isobel, and Alex is freed from that gaze.

He turns back towards the bar, avoiding Maria’s eye, and when Jason passes by in front of him Alex asks for a double shot.

* * *

Liz glares at him when she spots him sitting down in one of the booths in the Crashdown with a perfect view of the front doors, and Max, who is sitting in one of the booths having lunch with Isobel.

Alex has been following Max around for the last day and a half, and he’s so completely ordinary and boring, that Alex can’t wait until he leaves Roswell so that Alex can get back to his actual job. He’s followed him to his mom’s house, and when he accompanied her to the hospital, and the multiple times he stopped outside of the Crashdown to gaze longingly at Liz as she works, and to the library where he checked out more books than he could possibly read through while he’s here.

Alex has to admit that he hasn’t actually changed that much since high school, but that doesn’t make him trust him any more or less.

Max is still the investigative journalist who stops at nothing to get his story, and he hopes that the mark Liz had left on _him _when she had tried to heal him years ago, doesn’t appear on Max.

He hasn’t seen Liz this happy since Max Evans told her that he would change all of his plans for her, ten years ago, and he remembers how devastated she’d been when she had decided that for his own good, they had to send him away.

Liz drops his plate hard on the table, making the fries bounce and spill over the side of the plate.

“You need to stop,” she states, sliding into the seat across from him and giving him a serious look.

Alex gives her a serious look back, “I’m not doing anything.”

“Well, you’re not being subtle either,” she hisses. “Max knows that someone is following him around.”

Alex gives her a look, and she rolls her eyes at him.

“I know that’s what you want, for him to be paranoid, but it’s not helping-”

“I’m not trying to help,” Alex says, cutting her off. “I’m trying to protect us.”

“He’s not-”

“Liz,” Max says interrupting them, and both Alex and Liz turn to him as one.

Liz smiles and Alex gives Max an unimpressed look.

Max smiles weakly at Alex and it gets brighter when he looks at Liz. “Can we talk for a second?” he asks her, and then his eyes dart back to Alex and then around the room and then back to Liz. “Uh, privately?”

Liz nods her head in agreement, kicking Alex before he can say anything, and slides out of the seat leading him back towards the kitchen entrance.

Alex watches them go with his mouth pursed, and decides that privacy is something that Max needs to earn when it comes to Liz, but before he can get up and follow them, Isobel is sliding into Liz’s vacated seat.

“Manes,” she says, and Alex makes a truly disgusted face at her, so she just rolls her eyes. “Alex, I hope that you’re not planning on skipping the reunion tonight.”

Alex had been planning on going to keep an eye on Liz and Max, but Isobel telling him that she expects him somewhere always makes him want to do the opposite.

“Why would I even want to go?” he asks her flatly, giving her a look like he’s daring her to tell him that high school were the best years of their lives and everyone should celebrate.

“Michael is going to be there,” she says, and Alex sighs because of course Maria sicced her wife on Alex.

“I don’t-” he starts, but Isobel cuts him off with a gesture, and looks at him seriously enough that Alex shuts his mouth.

“You’re not fooling anyone, not then, and certainly not now, but if you don’t want to talk to him, fine. Don’t tell him how you’re obviously still in love with him, but please let him know that your leg isn’t his fault.”

Alex inhales sharply and gives Isobel a wide eyed look.

“I’ve _never _blamed him for that,” Alex hisses, voice low.

“I know,” she says, expression going marginally soft. “But he still blames himself, and you need to tell him that it’s your fault for not going to the hospital immediately after the accident, and landing yourself in the emergency room several days later with a staph infection so bad that they had to amputate your leg.”

Alex closes his eyes and exhales long and slow before he opens his eyes and gives Isobel a tight smile. “I’ll be at the reunion.”

“Good,” she says smiling back at him, and then leans forward to steal one of his fries before she leaves the diner.

Alex inhales deeply and ignores the twinge of pain he can feel radiating up his right thigh, and then gets up, leaving his plate untouched and dropping several bills to cover the cost and tip before he heads towards the kitchen entrance.

Of course, when he gets there, Liz and Max are nowhere to be found.

Alex inhales deeply, controlling his anger, and the door to the kitchen creaks a little bit with the effort.

Alex just shakes his head and leaves the diner.

* * *

Maria whistles when she looks up from where she’s setting up her table to do palm readings and sees Alex standing right in front of her.

“You’re looking good,” she says eyeing his outfit from the cleanest pair of boots he owns, to the only pair of jeans he owns with no holes in them, to the red flannel shirt that he’s never worn that had been a gift from Isobel on his last birthday underneath the leather jacket that Rosa had given to him the last time that she’d been in the country long enough for a visit.

“Meeting up with anyone special?” She asks smiling brightly and looking over Alex’s shoulder briefly.

“No,” Alex says flatly. “I’m here to keep an eye on the situation. Have you seen Liz? I haven’t been able to find her all afternoon, and she’s not answering her phone.”

Maria shakes her head, worry flooding her eyes, “I haven’t seen her since this morning.”

Alex sighs roughly. “If she tells him anything-” he starts and Maria cuts him off.

“We’ll deal with it, like we deal with everything, together.”

Alex exhales and gives her a look. “We might have to send him away with or without her blessing.”

Maria gives him a serious look, “If it comes to that, I’ll do what needs to be done, I promise, but the important thing here is Liz.”

“And making sure that no one finds out-”

Maria gives him a sharp look suddenly and Alex closes his mouth just as he feels the warmth of someone walking up beside him.

“Finds out what?” Michael asks, coming up from behind Alex, and leaning on the table.

Alex inhales sharply, feeling his entire equilibrium go out of balance at the proximity.

Michael is close enough that their arms are just barely touching, and Alex is fighting against every single cell in his body that wants him to press even closer.

“That I left my cards at home,” Maria says smiling winningly at Michael. “But I’ve gotten pretty good at palm readings if you want to give it a shot?”

Michael looks from her to Alex raising an eyebrow, and Alex just clenches his jaw.

“Actually,” he says. “Do you mind if I borrow him for a second?”

Alex is about to say that he has something that he needs to do, when Maria nods her head.

“Of course,” she says moving away from the table. “Let me just go let the wife know I’ve set my stuff up.”

She leaves with a wave and a pointed look at Alex, and Alex wishes that he had siblings that didn’t care enough to meddle in his life.

Alex inhales deeply and turns to Michael.

Michael wastes no time in speaking. “Are you selling drugs?”

Alex snorts in laughter and rolls his eyes. “Nice to see that even when you’re avoiding him you still let him affect your opinion of me.”

Michael clenches his jaw, but doesn’t look away. “My chemical engineers found traces of phenyl 2 propanone around your Airstream.”

Alex rolls his eyes. “Tell your dad that he should get you a better set of engineers.”

The words crack through whatever facade Michael is trying to keep, and he gives Alex a look. “He’s as much my father as he is yours and I would prefer it if you didn’t keep talking about him like he didn’t hurt me as much as he hurt you.”

Alex clenches his jaw and inclines his head before he expels a breath and looks at Michael seriously. “No, I’m not selling drugs or anything else for that matter. So you don’t have to worry about giving the Master Sargent the bad news.”

“That’s not why-” Michael starts sounding annoyed and reaching for Alex, but Alex steps out of reach.

Michael’s brow furrows in frustration. “I’m just trying to-”

“I don’t care what it is you’re trying to do,” Alex says cutting him off. “I don’t need you. I know how to handle the Master Sargent, I’ve had plenty of practice the last ten years without you.”

Alex turns then and hurries away not waiting for an answer.

* * *

Alex watches Liz and Maria as they talk to each other with their heads bent together, as they watch Isobel lead Max into a waltz to an old pop song.

Liz looks extremely happy and relaxed like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders.

It’s infectious, but Alex can’t help but feel like their problems have only just begun.

He watches as Max spins Isobel away from him, and she stumbles right into Maria’s arms, who dips her and they both laugh happily as she straightens up and wraps her arms around Maria’s shoulders, letting Maria set the rhythm that they start to move in.

Max walks over to Liz looking bashful, and holds out his hand.

Liz rolls her eyes and grabs his hand and pulls him along until she’s right by Maria and Isobel, and then lets go of him to dance.

Max sways awkwardly beside her, and Alex feels a smile reluctantly tug against the corners of his mouth.

He leans a little bit harder on his right leg, and winces at the pain, before he turns and heads towards the back of the room, slightly hidden from the rest of the place with a curtain made entirely out of shimmering ribbons.

He ducks behind the curtains and looks around to find someplace to sit, and stops when he finds Michael instead, looking up at the slideshow projecting in a cycle on the side wall.

Alex’s eyes go to the picture and he feels his heart tripping over itself.

Isobel had asked him if he had any pictures of Michael, and Alex had told her no, but she obviously knows him better than that and had waited him out until Alex had finally handed over the only picture of Michael he had.

It was taken just days before the accident and Michael was leaning back against the back of Alex’s jeep, smiling at Alex and looking directly at the camera with his wide and happy eyes, and it always felt like a punch in the gut whenever Alex stared at it and thought about the look on Michael’s face the last time that they had seen each other, eyes wide with fear and guilt as Jesse Manes dragged him out of the tool shed and to the basement.

Isobel had returned the picture after she had it scanned in a frame with a note that said that the picture would last longer if he wasn’t pressing his oily fingertips all over it.

“Isobel stole that one from me,” Alex says as Michael’s face is pulled down to a frown.

He startles looking at Alex, and Alex inhales deeply before he steps further into the room.

“I thought for sure you’d be long gone before I ever made it back here,” Michael says, voice slow and low as though he’s afraid that Alex will go running again.

Alex shakes his head and moves closer, “Why would I go anywhere?”

Michael swallows and takes a step closer to him, and Alex matches him without really realizing it, his eyes drawn down to Michael’s lips as he speaks.

“You hate this town. You were making plans to leave the second that you got here. Why would you-?”

Michael stops speaking as soon as he realizes that Alex is standing entirely too close, which is something that Alex realizes as soon Michael does.

He looks at Alex, and Alex moves his gaze from Michael’s mouth (when, _when _did he start looking at Michael’s mouth?) up to Michael’s eyes, and he inhales sharply at the way that Michael is looking at him.

“I-” Alex starts and stops, eyes dropping back down to Michael’s mouth.

He realizes in an offhand fashion that this is the first time that they’ve been alone since he saw Michael again, and he wonders if Michael realizes it too.

He gets his answer as soon as he moves his hands to press them against Michael’s chest, and Michael’s fingers dig into the back of his neck and drag him in.

Alex wraps his arms around Michael’s shoulders and keeps him close, as Michael’s fingers slide up into his hair and dig into the back of his head as he pulls him in even closer and devours his mouth.

Alex feels an explosion in the pit of his stomach that sparkles like fireworks and spirals through him warming him up from the inside and pushing away all of the cold fear and frigid loneliness that’s been eating at him for the last ten years.

Michael parts their mouths on a gasp, and drags his fingers restlessly down the back of Alex’s neck, and drops his forehead to Alex’s with a sigh that sounds so content and _relieved _that it makes Alex’s stomach knot up with tension.

Michael slides his fingers back up into his hair, Alex tightens his hold on Michael and refuses to open his eyes, afraid that this might all just be a dream, and that he’ll wake up to the cold reality that Michael is gone and he lives his life in fear of the Master Sargent retaliating against his sisters if he steps one foot out of the line he wants him to walk.

But as Michael hums, low and pleased in his throat, and Alex presses in even closer not wanting to let go, he realizes that he was right before.

Their problems are just beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> i have most of season one plotted out for this universe, someone pls stop me


End file.
